Shohamy 10/7

Shohamy, E. & Inbar, O. The language assessment process: A “multiplism” perspective.
Tel Aviv University.

This article made me wish we had this class along side our research methods class the first summer… but that’s ok, better late than never… or not???. Anyways- I like this article for it’s fluent flow and especially that the authors provided some of the definitions, from their origins which I thought was nice (and smart because this almost felt like a review and almost boring). The authors also provided the definitions according to the original creators which was beneficial, they helped put the assessment/teaching/politics indefinate puzzle/picture together.
Obviously I got hung up on definitions and couldn’t wait to read up more on what the “tools” were…. It seemed like that was a mysterious word, and I so wanted to see what its definition would be in this article…. And I missed it…. For a little while… so I was hooked… on “tools” which seemed to be used interchangeably with instruments. Anyways…
After reading up to half way, I began to wish I created a flow chart, then began wondering if these authors did, then I felt like they should have and provided that instead along with their little text boxes.
The three questions suggested to consider before designing the instrument (tool?) was at first glance appearing easy enough to answer and thus was the case with the first question-easy to answer about what is the purpose(s) of the assessment procedure?- of course these were already thought of for us to be in our 6th- 7th year of standards based design… levels. The second question: How is the language knowledge to be assessed defined?- in which the term valid arrives in the explanation…. Then the 3rd question was: What instruments or assessment procedures will be chosen to elicit the required language knowledge? I like this question because I’ve wanted to ask something like this for a while
The section on the teaching approaches, language knowledge and testing methods was finally able to provide me with what they meant by tools, which was a relief to see, because we do require these in our district… just when I was beginning to wonder if our administrative people really knew what they were getting themselves into, because I’ve never heard them refer to theories or methods or anything “professional” like that at our inservices- so when I go to them and then read this stuff, I see parts of us in this whole SLATE program as far as the classes… just that I wonder who else knows this stuff in this district that we can begin to collaborate with using this information we’re gaining here to really have these authentic assessments that are genuine and effective enough for the state to accept for those needing alternative assessments so as not to be left behind/ out of the job market.
I have seemed to use the words assessment s and tests interchangeable but now, I am more aware of their specific differences, to where I feel confident I can use them appropriately and proficiently in context.
Oh- there’s more but this will do for now.